When joining pieces of flat stock such as often used in the aircraft industry, a heavy piece of metal of almost any type which happens to be at hand is often utilized in backing and supporting the shank portion of a rivet opposite the manufactured head for forming or fashioning a rivet head. Many formed heads of irregular configurations and often inadequate structural characteristics usually result. However, some sophisticated head forming apparatus is available such as that illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,124,981. Such an apparatus would be unsuitable from a practical standpoint for forming rivet heads in a manual operation as is contemplated by the present invention.
Accordingly, it is an important object of this invention to provide a manual support tool for backing and forming a rivet head opposite a manufactured head carried within the stock being riveted.
Another important object of the invention is to provide an improved rivet head forming device having a backing and supporting member which may be readily positioned for defining a formed head of proper height, configuration and disposition.